Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)

I am happy to discuss the proposal on the trade agreement. I have held the Government position, as outlined in the programme for Government, to work with like-minded countries, as I have done since 23 January, which share similar concerns about the Mercosur trade deal and the impact it could have on trade. It is a different point from the question. The Mercosur trade agreement is about tariff rates. It is about the point at which it comes in and whether it gets preferential tariff rates. SPS standards and food safety standards are non-negotiable. For product coming into Europe already, and Deputy Kenny made the point that very little of it comes into Ireland but plenty of it comes into the EU, it is a non-negotiable standard.

I do not accept that it has been known for a long time that there are lower standards there. No more than we do not get hormone-fed beef from other member states, we do not accept it into the EU from Mercosur countries either. There are very clear audits. We need to double down with the European Commission to make sure the audits, checks and testing of product coming in are rigorous, and that the tests in Mercosur countries and here are rigorous, because this is non-negotiable. The concerns I have on the trade side are about environmental standards but they are very different from SPS standards.

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